Amsterdam Guide

I’m getting married in March, but more importantly i’m going on my stag do at the end of Feb to Amsterdam and plan on spending 3 nights in an record-breaking stoned haze. The less I remember about it the better. So i’ve collated a bunch of information I’ve found so i can refer to it when i’m out and about sniffing tulips.

2008 Cannabis Cub Winners:
Cannabis Cup
1. Super Lemon Haze – Greenhouse United
2. Utopia Haze – Barney’s
3. Chocolope – The Green Place

Indica Cup
1. Mt Cook – Kiwi Seeds
2. Cheese – Homegrown Fantaseeds
3. LSD – Amnesia Seeds

Sativa Cup
1. Utopia Haze – Barney’s
2. Paradise Seeds – De La Haze
3. Cannatonic – Resin Seeds

Neder Hash
1. Royal Jelly – Barney’s
2. Greenhouse Ice – The Greenhouse
3. Grey Crystal – Grey Area

Import Hash
1. Triple Zero – Barney’s
2. Super Palm – Greenhouse
3. Shiraz – Amnesia

Product Cup
1. Be Chilling – Barney’s & The Party Spray – DNA
2. Bubble Bags – Bubble Bags
3. Glass Vaporizer – Herborizer

Best Booth
1. Barney Farm

My favourite coffeeshops – over the course of your trips to amsterdam everyone picks up their favourites. These are mine:

The grasshopper – Ok, it’s certainly not the best – but still retains memories because it was the first coffeeshop I went to. It’s just down the road from central station and the weed area is downstairs. I still remember the smile on my face when I saw the menu …

Kandinsky – They took over what was once my favourite coffeshop (cum laude). They consistently have very high quality hash – I strongly recommend the trans himalayan – not too heavy, sweet with a nice buzz. Kandinsky is actually a chain of coffeeshops and it’s a nice place to spend an afternoon

Barney’s – I include this, more for the breakfasts they do than the smoking experience. It’s a bit out the way, but a nice place to go for breakfast, sadly european’s don’t do breakfast as well as their UK and US counterparts – Barney’s goes some way to redress this.

Abraxas - Another cool coffeeshop, right opposite the secret entrance to the Supperclub – good for a pre-dinner smoke.

The Green House chain of shops, Barneys, and De Dampkring are also known for really potent weed and hash.

Baba
Warmoesstraat 64
in the Red Light District

I’m a huge fan of trance music, but I don’t blame you if you can’t stand it. Baba is a comfortable little shop with great views from its many windows on a busy corner of Warmeostraat in the Red Light District. They open around 8 each morning and close at 1 a.m. every night, and trance and vocal house is blasting out of their excellent sound system all day every day. Even if you aren’t a big trance fan, you might be surprised at how nice it sounds after a few tokes. Baba also sells very good spacecakes and other space items.

De Rokerij
Lange Leidsedwarsstraat 41
near Leidseplein

The original location of this 4-shop chain is mixed in between all the restaurants in the Leidseplein area and I’d have to say it’s my favorite coffeeshop in Amsterdam. It’s actually hard to find unless you are looking closely for it, but once you find it you’ll discover that it’s usually packed inside. There is a really classy Indian theme in the place, and live DJs playing chill tunes on weekends. They used to sell booze and the wait staff always consisted of stunning women, but it’s still really nice anyway.

Hill Street Blues
Warmoesstraat 52a
in the Red Light District

This place is about a 30-second walk from Baba, and they used to have an excellent happy hour deal from 6 to 9 each evening, back in the days when coffeeshops could also sell booze. Hill Street Blues’ dumb name comes from the fact that it’s next to a police station, but don’t hold that against it. The cozy room in the back of the main floor has a great view of the little harbor that sits in front of Centraal Station. There is a game room downstairs that never seems to get much use, and they also sell a variety of space muffins and cookies and such.

Homegrown Fantasy
Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 87a
behind the Kalverstraat shopping area

This place feels a modern art museum inside, and the pieces on display always somehow become a bit more interesting the longer you are there. It’s much bigger on the inside than it looks on the outside, and it’s easy to miss if you don’t know where it is. They are known for high quality weed as well as a black light in the men’s room that is a frequent topic of conversation among patrons. This isn’t on a really touristy street, although it’s very easy to reach from either Centraal Station or Dam Square. It’s really one of a kind and I highly recommend at least peaking in if you are in the area.

Tops Coffeeshop
Prinsengracht 480
just off Leidsestraat near Leidseplein

You might consider this an Amsterdam coffeeshop equivalent of a dive bar because it’s a bit out of the way and rarely crowded. But people who find it are rewarded with the only coffeeshop with an excellent canal view (the lovely Prinsengracht in this case) in the whole city. The sound system is good and the staff are usually very friendly. Their internet café area in the back used to be the biggest and best in the city before Easyeverything moved in. This place also used to sell booze, which made it even cooler, but the canal-side location still makes it great. During summer the front doors open up and the outdoor seating can feel epic along this beautiful canal.